KANBrief 4/11
Trust is good, but supervision is better. Work equipment and other technical products such as machines, electric appliances, PPE or toys must be safe. Verifying this safety is the task of the market surveillance authorities. In order to facilitate the flow of information on hazardous products between manufacturers, consumers and the authorities, the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) has set up a comprehensive product safety portal.
In 2008, it was reported in the press that technical risks could not be ruled out even for the presumed safe products of renowned toy manufacturers. In response, an interministerial working group comprising the German federal and regional governments developed principles for a joint strategy by which market surveillance under the German Equipment and Product Safety Act (GPSG) was to be reinforced. Among other things, these principles made provision for creation of a central portal for recall management, abuse of certificates and consumer information.
The BAuA was assigned the task of setting up the portal. The portal went live in the autumn of 2009, and can be accessed by any member of the public. Over and above its original mandate, the site serves as a central information portal on which announcements deriving from the BAuA's statutory functions are made public, together with other publications, the results of research and development, and guidance on use in the field.
The portal supplements existing European instruments such as RAPEX and ICSMS, the purpose of which is to permit the swift exchange of information on hazardous products. The RAPEX procedure serves as an early-warning system between the European Commission and the market surveillance authorities of the individual Member States. The ICSMS network, in place since 2003, is the most comprehensive database of its kind in Europe and provides detailed information on the products tested by the local market surveillance authorities.
Originally, this information was primarily intended for internal official procedures. With the launch of the BAuA's product safety portal, however, an interface to product manufacturers and consumers has now been created:
• A central module of the portal is the product recall platform. On this platform, the BAuA publishes product recalls in Germany of which it is aware which are subject to the German Product Safety Act (formerly the GPSG). Of particular interest is the online form by which manufacturers are able to announce recalls of their own products. With this feature, the BAuA is supporting companies in fulfilling their statutory obligations and in informing the market surveillance authorities of defective products and risks to the health and safety of users and consumers.
• Useful information can also be found under Produktinformationen (product information). "Produktrückrufe" (product recalls) routes users to the ICSMS, which was recently updated with the support of the BAuA. Consumers can use the ICSMS to report suspicious or hazardous products directly to the responsible market surveillance authority, and can use key terms to search for products classified as hazardous. The portal also contains links to the weekly reports, published by the European Commission, of the RAPEX notifications on products which present a serious hazard.
In addition, announcements of prohibition orders, information on the references of standards identified by the Product Safety Committee and the list of GS test bodies have now been incorporated into the portal itself.
The latest information on the tasks assumed by the BAuA under its research mandate is likewise hosted here. This particularly includes the study results for particular products or specific risks in the area of product safety, and the annual statistical evaluation of the reported product defects. "How is Kiko?" (original title: "Wie geht es Kiko?"), the entertaining educational BAuA clip on product safety, is available for download from the site.
Now that the basic functions of the portal are in place, its features and services will be extended continually in the future.
Dr. Hans-Jörg Windberg
windberg.hans-joerg@baua.bund.de